Default Highschool Girl
by Mad Pierrot Le Fou
Summary: What's a girl to do when she loses her inspiration? Why something drastically hilarious of course! Hiyori suffers from massive writers block, and comes up with a drastic plan to surmount the odds.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Arglblargl.

So after reading the epilogue of weluvgirlswithglasses story "Level Up! Love!" I realized that Hiyori has very few fanfics about her or that involve her as a main character. Coming to the conclusion that that just won't do, I decided to write up one myself.

I thought it up pretty spur of the moment, and I've really no idea how long it'll go, though I do have the premise outlined. And please bear through any spelling and grammar mistakes, I've got no beta-reader, so a few things may slip past me. I've gone over and polished it many MANY times though, so I don't think there would be too many.

So yeah, go ahead and read and enjoy, it's gets pretty weird from here.

* * *

"_Y'know, for a girl who writes a lot of romance doujin and manga, you don't seem to have much romance in your life."_

Hiyori Tamura sat in her bedroom, methodically drumming her pencil against her sketch pad. The repeated noise and cool night did little to alleviate the pounding thoughts in her head.

_Stupidstupidstupidstupid..._

The drumming quickened as she grew more and more frustrated, her left hand flicking the pencil so fast that it suddenly flew from her grasp and hit the opposite wall.

Letting out a groan, Hiyori slumped forward on her table, face squashed against the sketch pad, her glasses painfully pressing into the side of her head. After three hours, she still hadn't come up with anything. Any attempt to think up some new material was quickly quashed under intense negative pressure.

She just...didn't have any inspiration...

Her brow suddenly furrowed in annoyance, she knew pretty well what exactly was causing this writers block. She'd invited her classmates Patty, Minami, and Yutaka to spend some time at her house. Just a nice little get-together between friends...

...Well...okay, Hiyori **had **had an ulterior motive.

She'd been in a bit of a creative slump lately, and needed some helpful "inspiration" from two of her closest friends. Her best idea's always seemed to come from witnessing the peculiar subtext that practically oozed from the interaction between Minami and Yutaka. Things had been going great...that was until she had left to use the washroom, only to shortly return and find that Patty had uncovered her hidden stash of still unfinished doujin.

Had she mentioned that much of it was the direct result of the previously commented upon subtext?

After grasping her heart from shock and hyper-ventilating a bit, she calmed down enough to slump forward onto the table, her face red from embarassment, and wait for them to finish reading the labours of her passion.

It was when Patty had finally finished flipping through her latest book (which was, strangely enough, NOT modeled after Yutaka and Minami) that she uttered that...**horrific** sentence:

"Y'know, for a girl who writes a lot of romance doujin and manga, you don't seem to have much romance in your life."

...

...really?

...did she really just say that?

After that, Hiyori had lifted her head from the table to look at her blonde friend through incredulous squinted eyes. The blue-eyed American seemed to mistake shock for confusion, unfortunately, and went on...

"Well, it's just a bit weird y'know, how you can write about something you've never had experience with...I mean, you've never had a boyfriend or anything like that right?"

Hiyori slowly shook her head.

"Well you see!" she exclaimed, her finger pointed upwards to better illustrate her point, "Even Nenene had to kiss Yomiko to know how a first kiss felt before she could write about it. If you don't experience something, how do you know the things you're writing about are accurate?

...

...**really**?!

...had she **really** just said that?!

Back in the present, Hiyori let out a whine and placed her hands on top of her head, exasperation taking over as she recalled Patty's words.

And the horrible thing was that it made sense! It made complete and unabashed sense! How could she, as a writer and artist, write and draw situations and feelings she'd never been in or had!?

Patty must have realized (a bit to late really) that her words may have some adverse affect on her friend, and quickly stammered out how it didn't seem to matter much considering all the good manga she's put out already ("Really Hiyorin! It's just a random thought I was having, you don't have to worry about it!). This stuttered reassurance, quite predictably, did little to sooth Hiyori's mood.

"Arrrrgh, why?! Why did she have to go and do that, did I do something to make her hate me? Is this some sort of weird karma for thinking perveted thoughts about my friends?!" the sad girl cried out loud as she leaned back and slid her glasses off, though they had left an angry red line on the left side of her face.

_Well, I know Patty didn't mean anything by it, she just has a tendency to speak without thinking, though usually she just spouts off nonsense and generalizations she learns from anime. This time she was pretty astute. Erm, not to say she's and idiot..._

...The karma thing sounded pretty plausible though.

Hiyori sighed and rubbed her eyes. Since Patty's **completely **random observation, she had been plagued by self doubt. It was starting to get terribly frustrating.

Sighing once more in a subdued fashion, she slowly got up and walked to her dresser, feeling unusually exhausted. After all, It wasn't every day where one had to reevaluate their entire life's work.

...okay, maybe she was being a little overdramatic, but it was still a bit of a slap in the face.

Quickly changing into her pajamas and placing her glasses on the nightstand, she slipped under the covers of her bed and laid her head down, careful not to disturb the neatly stacked piles of manga resting by her pillow. Maybe it was just temporary frustration from shock, and she would be back to her regular, if a bit high-strung, self tomorrow.

_"Yeah,_" she thought, snuggling into her pillow and closing her eyes, "_all I need is some rest..."_

* * *

"Ne-Neko nyan..."

"Eh, what was that Tamura-san?" asked Yutaka, curious as to the reason her friend was sprawled over her desk. Unknown to the small girl, Hiyori had spent most of the previous night tossing and turning, unable to shake off the anxiety she'd been feeling all day. The bespectacled girl felt even more exhausted, her eyes behind her glasses only white horizontal slits and her face an off colour of blue.

"I-It's as if my soul could escape at any moment," she muttered under breath, only confusing her mini pink haired friend even further. "It's nothing Yu-chan, I just couldn't get any sleep last night is all," she managed to mumble out coherently.

Indeed, she had barely managed to crawl out of her bed this morning, change into her uniform, and slowly trudge her way to the school. She'd even skipped breakfast, not having much of an appetite after such a fit-full night.

"Oh...does it...have anything to do with what Patty-chan said the other day?" asked the shorter but no less inquisitive girl. She may be a bit flighty sometimes, but not everything escaped her.

The question caused Hiyori to sit bolt upright in her seat, back rigid as if she had a steel beam in place of a spine.

"Ofcoursenotwhatwouldmakeyouthinkthatyou'resosillyYuchan!" she said, firing each word in rapid succession and leaving no breathing space inbetween, which left her gasping for air after she was finished. The barrage of words was a bit too much for Yutaka, who cowered a bit under the sudden outburst.

"I-I must have been m-mistaken, sorry Tamura-san," she said, backing away from her currently strung-out friend, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Hiyori sighed as she watched her friend retreat (most likely to find Minami probably). She laid her head in her hands, adjusting her slightly askew glasses. Getting a good night's sleep was harder than she had thought it would be, her mind just didn't want to let go of the troubling train of thoughts brought along by Patty's poor choice of words the previous day, which had made her anxious and fidgety.

_"This is begining to be a problem," _she thought.

Lifting her head from her hands and looking around, Hiyori spotted where Yutaka and Minami were on the other side of the room. From the looks of it, Yutaka must have suddenly felt dizzy or light-headed or something, and was now leaning with her eyes closed against her taller friend, who looked down at her with vague worry.

Hiyori's eyes suddenly shot open, her pupils dazzling and her glasses reflecting the fluorescent light of the classroom, giving an almost sinister glow.

THERE, she could see it! Minami would soon slowly wrap her arms around the smaller girl, trying to make her as comfortable as possible. She would ask the smaller girl if she was alright, if there was anything she could do, and Yutaka would look up at her with those soft green eyes full of affection and say that as long as Iwasaki-san was there, she would be just fine. Minami would blush and avert her gaze out of embarrassment, but would hold her dear friend even tighter. The taller girl would then lean forward towards her tiny friend, who would in turn stand on the tips of her toes, and their faces and lips would get closer and closer, until...

Quick as she could, Hiyori whipped out her notebook, clicked the top of her pencil, focused her gaze on her two classmates, pressed pencil to paper...

...and nothing! No matter how hard she tried, how much she imagined her two friends snuggling in one anothers arms and sharing a shy yet passionate kiss, she just couldn't work up the inspiration to draw out the scenario. Her pencil wavered feebly above the paper, unable to process her passionate visions.

She bit her lower lip and raised her balled-up fists to her face, tears streaming from her eyes _"It's no good, I can't do it! And I really want to!"_

Resigning to her current fate (for the moment at least), Hiyori quietly sniffled as the bell rang to signal the start of class.

_I'll figure it out later...I hope, _she thought as she tried her darnedest to pay attention to today's lessons. Unfortunately, much like sleeping, it wasn't going to happen. Classes seemed to congeal and run on until she couldn't really tell when one lesson began and another ended.

She continued through this stupor until the bell rang for lunch.

_It hasn't even been a day and I already can't handle this,_ Hiyori thought, sighing morosely as she pulled out her melon bread, though not feeling too hungry even after skipping breakfast that morning. She was quickly joined by her three friends, who could definitely sense something wrong with their fujoshi friend, as if an aura of discontent and misery radiated from the girl.

Minami, being a young woman of few words, had no idea what to say, while Yutaka was still a bit trepid from earlier. Patty, knowing her two compatriots wouldn't know how to handle the situation (and not to mention feeling a tad guilty about the previous day), decided she would be the one to speak up.

"Um, Hiyorin? I-Is everything alright? You seem a bit...a bit..." Her question died in her throat when Hiyori slowly turned her head towards her in such a slow and jerky manner that Patty swore she could hear her neck cracking.

_It's like something from Ju-on._

"I'm **fine** Patty-**chan**,"she said through gritted teeth and emphasizing the honorific for effect, "In fact, I'm so **fine**, that I'm going to go take a walk."

And without uttering another word, she got up, walked across the classroom, and out the door, leaving nothing but an unsettling aura in her wake. Her three friends looked on in confusion and trepidation, not knowing exactly what to do, or why their friend was even acting the way she was.

"D-Did something happen?" quietly asked a bewildered Minami.

"She's been acting strangely since this morning," answered Yutaka.

"It's probably nothing serious," said Patty, "she's just having some trouble with her latest manga most likely, she always gets a little moody when she's working hard."

The two girls nodded their heads while listening to the exchange students sage advice. It was rare when she gave such comprehensible explanations. The trio went back to eating before lunch was over, though Patty's mind still lingered on her mangaka friend.

_Ah Hiyorin, I hope you aren't taking what I said too seriously._

Hiyori, meanwhile, stalked down the halls, frightening more than a few students with her grim expression and asphyxiating aura. Her mind was elsewhere as she walked.

This didn't make any sense to her, she'd had writers block before, she knew how it felt. Before, all she'd needed to do to alleviate herself from it would be to get a good rest, read some yuri manga, and even watch Minami and Yutaka for a while. That last one _always_ worked without fail.

This was..._different._

She couldn't sleep, she didn't have the interest to eat or read, and watching her two friends play out her vague fantasies had done nothing. It just felt wrong.

_Of course it's different, the whole situation's different. Not only can I not think of any good material, anything I do think of just doesn't seem...right. I..I have no experience to compare them to, I've no idea if I'm being true to the material!...D-Does this mean I'll never be able to write another manga again?!_

Hiyori grabbed her head in distress, this was getting a bit overwhelming.

_No! There has to be something I can do, I refuse to give so easily! I just...I just have to...do something, something drastic! Yeah, that's it, Something drasti-"_

And then it hit her, like a mack truck going at full speed and carrying a full load. She needed to do something drastic. She needed something to compare her ideas to, she needed experience...

_...I need to start dating._

She immediately clasped her hands over her mouth even though she'd only thought those words. Her faced turned scarlet as she tried to rationalize her current thoughts.

_Okay, okay, okay, let's just think about this for a second. I need to get some...dating...experience so I have something to compare my manga to...that's pretty drastic, isn't it? Sure it is. Now, I can't just go off and shack-up with any old person, _she winced at her own choice of words, _I need to plan this, __make sure that this'll help me get over my writers block._

Sighing lightly, as little of her anxiety seemed to drain away, she started to plan.

_Okay, so, I guess since I'm writing a yuri manga, I suppose I should date another girl..., _a heavy blush crept across her face, _...But what kind of girl? The characters in the manga are a shy, somewhat awkward underclassman who secretly pines over her senpai. I...suppose that would be me._

She looked thoughtful for a moment, crossing her arms and placing a hand under her chin in the classic "thinkers" pose.

_That means all I have to do now is find an upperclassman who, while tough on the exterior, has a softer and gentler side which will open up gradually until the shy "kohai" (that would be me) can reveal her true feelings. But I only know a few, and most of them aren't what you would call, well, "adequate" dating archetypes._

Hiyori frowned upon this realization. Did she really know anyone who could fit that archetype of the "tough-and-collected-on-the-outside-yet-passionate-and-kinder-on-the-inside?"

"Jeez Konata, do you always have to be like that?"

"Ah Kagamin, you can get so adorable when you get so flustered!"

Hiyori froze on the spot, her eyes going wide. Her mouth went dry and her heartbeat quickened. She **DID** know someone who fit that archetype, someone who could be tough yet compassionate, who could be the perfect match she needed.

_No, no way._

She turned, towards the open door of Ms. Kurosawa's 3-B classroom, and saw the small group of four friends she had become quite familiar with since meeting Yutaka and Patty. But, right now, only one of them had her attention. The slightly-taller-than-her girl with lavender pigtails seemed to stand out amongst the group, like a shining beacon of hope and salvation. Hiyori knew, she **KNEW,** that this girl was the one who could help her. She would be the goddess of her inspiration!

And at that moment, she thought of two words which summed up her thoughts completely.

_Ah, crap._

* * *

**End note:**Yeah, that's right, I'm writing a fic in which Hiyori will try to seduce Kagami. Weren't expecting that were you? It seriously doesn't get any weirder than this.

I'm not even sure how I came up with it either, I think I stayed up too late one night and tried to go to sleep when **SHAZAM**, Hiyori tries to get together with Kagami. Ha, okay, I'm being a little facetious, I'm not entirely sure that's what's going to happen here. While I usually love a happy ending where the corresponding girls manage to beat the odds and wind up together, I have to say, Hiyori/Kagami is such a weird pairing, I'm not entirely sure it would work out. That's not to say I won't try my hardest to get as much mushy fluff as I can out of the two.

I have to say though, getting the characterizations down has been pretty tough. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't really written much in a long while, or whether I don't have enough Japanese schoolgirl spirit in my heart. Probably an amalgam of both. Really though, I've tried to portray Hiyori and the other characters as close I could (Hiyori was particularly tough considering she didn't have too much character development in the anime).

I'm also debating how much Japanese I want to use in this. I'd rather not use insane amounts of gratuitous Japanese, mainly because one, I don't speak or write Japanese, and two, I'm going to assume most of the people reading this may not know the language and I'd rather not confuse them or make them scroll down to read lists of explanations and definitions. I think I'll just go with a few honorifics and a couple phrases now and again. I think the only word I used in this chapter was "kohai", which is basically the opposite of a "senpai," IE underclassman and upperclassman respectively. I think. Internet don't fail me now.

Anyway, please read and review, I'd really love to know whether or not anybody likes this...really odd thing I've put together. Be the gods and goddesses of MY inspiration, codsarnit!

Sincerely,

Mad Pierrot Le Fou

P.S. I'm long-winded by nature, so please bear with me through these overly-long ending notes, I'll try not to do it too much.


	2. Overture to the Force of Destiny

**Disclaimer:** Do I really need to say it? **Really**? Can anyone honestly believe that I could possibly own the Lucky Star franchise? **ANYONE?!**

Well first off I'd like to thank all you fantastic people who actually took time to review and give me your feedback. And to you people who read but didn't review, hope you enjoyed it as well.

I've switched "senpai" to "sempai," because when you actually pronounce the word senpai, it sounds like sempai. Not really ground breaking, but every-time I typed "senpai" I always heard it with the "n" sound instead of the "m," so it helps me to do it the other way.

If you haven't figured it out by now (really, shame on you if you haven't) this is going to be a shoujo-ai fic involving the romantic entanglement between two teenage girls. If you really have any problems about that, I'd really recommend you not read. Though, I don't think too many people in the Lucky Star fandom **would** mind. Just saying...

Ah, but I'm getting long-winded again, those of you still there enjoy the show.

* * *

Hiyori's sudden epiphany brought on a flurry of emotions. A sense of hope and accomplishment for thinking of a way to battle her writer's anxiety, a bit of awkward shyness from suddenly realizing she was in a higher grades corridor, and then flabbergasted shock as things eventually began to sink in.

Unfortunately she didn't have much time to dwell on these feelings as the schools bell suddenly chimed, signaling the end of the lunch period. Hiyori quickly bolted to her classroom, her cheeks still glowing slightly.

She managed to make it to her class, barely on-time (which was quite astounding when you think about how far she'd had to travel), and avoided getting a lecture that she more than likely wouldn't have paid much attention too anyway.

Hiyori stumbled to her seat, ignoring her friends silent stares partially due to distraction, and partially because she was worried that her expression might, in some way, give away her thoughts. She'd **really** rather not have her friends of all people know exactly what she was thinking.

The teacher finally began the lesson, but Hiyori was far too distracted to even try to listen this time. Her mind drifted to other things. Stranger things.

Purple things.

_Crap. CRAP! Did I seriously just think that? Ok, ok, calm down, just think about this for a second. Hiiragi-san is the only sempai I know who fits the archetype I need, she's passionate and kind, but seems to hide it under tough exterior. Makes it a pretty easy choice, right?_

_...Right?_

Hiyori let out an in-audible groan as her face connected with her desk.

_What am I thinking? This is crazy on every level. I don't even think Hiragii-sempai and I have ever really spoken to each other before, let alone held a conversation, and I'm seriously thinking of going after her? Arrrgh, not to mention she'll be graduating soon and then attending college. With all the testing and everything going on it's not like she'll even have time for a girlfriend or anything like that. Doesn't seem like it would work out..._

She sighed lightly as she lifted herself from her awkwardly bent position, moving into a more casual one with her left cheek resting against her palm. After a few seconds, her expression became less churlish, and bit more thoughtful as she stared past the blackboard.

_But, would it really have to? It's possible just trying would help. We wouldn't HAVE to end up as girlfriends, maybe I can get by with some coy flirting or something, it's not like she'd have reciprocate or anything, one-sided romances are good story material. If things start getting difficult, I could always pass it off as trying to get better acquainted with her before she goes off to college..._

Hiyori's face softened a bit more, until she wore an almost daydreaming expression. She was getting pretty into the idea now, even if she didn't realize it.

_Doesn't sound like such a bad idea anyway, getting to know her better. She is pretty cute, adorable even, when she's being deredere. And she does seem interesting, even though we haven't really talked or anything. I've seen her all the time with Izumi-sempai, I'd really like to know more about her..._

It was then that Hiyori's remarkably active imagination kicked in and she slipped into full on day-dream mode, starting to fantasize about the different way she could get close to "Hiiragi-sempai."

Hmmm, maybe they'd visit an amusement park as a group, that sounds plausible, right? Isn't there one nearby, in Kazo? Whatever. They'd all go as a group, happy and bright-eyed at the prospect of such a fun-filled day and making memories with one another. Of course they would split into smaller bunches at first, instead of traveling in one large, unwieldy mass. Hiyori would most likely go off with her own little clutch of friends at first, same as Kagami and her friends, and then everyone would probably splinter off as the day goes on, finding one another and forming other little adventuring parties, until by some fortuitous circumstance, she and Kagami would end up together. Alone.

They'd spend their time walking around the park getting to know each other better (or would that've already happened?), and playing a few games. Would Kagami win her a prize? Maybe she'd win her a giant stuffed rabbit from a shooting gallery. Hiyori would carry it around afterwards while they chatted and walked, the sun going down over the horizon, and only letting it slip from her embrace when they decided to ride the Ferris wheel. Thankfully the monstrous bunny took up a lot of room, which forced the two of them to sit next to each-other during the ride.

By then the long excitement filled day would have taken it's toll on Hiyori, and she'd close her eyes an lean against Kagami who, rather than push the younger girl away, would instead gently wrap her left arm around her friend. Hiyori would snuggle closer into her sempai's grasp, enjoying the warmth and security she provided. Then she'd open her violet eyes and look up into Kagami's indigo ones, both sets silently communicating a subtle intimate message to the other, causing the two girls to blush furiously but rendering them unable to look away until a loud explosion echoed through the compartment and they looked outside to see the dazzling lights of fireworks against the the black backdrop of the sky.

Kagami would comment on how beautiful it looked before Hiyori turned back to face her, their eyes once again finding each-other. The two would blush, Kagami's embrace would tighten, and one of her pigtails would gently brush Hiyori's face. The smaller girl would close her eyes, would only feel Kagami's warm breath as she got closer and closer, her lips trembling in anticipation, waiting for that golden moment when they would finally-

Hiyori suddenly threw herself back against her chair, her hands shooting up to cover her burning face which was now a furious shade of red, making her look less of a person suffering from embarrassment and more like one suffering from first-degree burns.

_Oh god What am I thinking! I know I have perverted thoughts about friends, but that was just crazy! _Hiyori's hands slid upwards and she grasped locks of her long hair in her fists. _I haven't even decided on anything and I'm already fantasizing about her? I need to get a grip here._

The manic otaku managed to calm herself into a semblance of rationality after a few minutes, and she began mentally going over her recent fantasy.

_Well, at least it was interesting. Huh, it was actually pretty good, all I'll need to do is flesh it out a bit more and it'd be a fantastic scene...Wow...it's actually working! And I haven't even really done anything yet! This is amazing, imagine how helpful it'll be if I actually tried going farther then just fantasizing about it._

Hiyori softly giggled to herself, her mind was finally made up. _Okay, I'm definitely going after Hiiragi-sempai now, I just...don't know how. I'll think something after school. Ooooh, Hiiragi-sempai, your going to help me get my inspiration back. _She sighed as she thought back to her fantasy. _Hmmm, would you really act like that? I guess I'll find out if things go well. _Her hand reached up to her mouth to lightly touch her lips. _I wonder...how soft your lips would be...and how would you kiss? Would you give shy butterfly kisses, or maybe more ferocious ones? W-Would you french on the first kiss?_

"Ta...Tamura-san?"

Hiyori's knees banged the underside of her desk, and she let out a pained moan as she lowered her hands to rub the suddenly throbbing apendages while Yutaka apologized profusely for startling her friend and causing her to injure herself.

"I-I'm sorry Tamura-san! I didn't mean to surprise you like that, I was just trying to get your attention! Are you alright?" squeeked the small moe-blob of a girl.

"It-It's fine Yu-chan," Hiyori said as she continued to rub her knees trying to alleviate the pain, her eyes slightly watery, "you just startled me, _geez that hurt_, I-I was sorta' deep in my thoughts. What is it you wanted?"

"Well..." was all Yutaka said as she looked around the classroom, and Hiyori followed her gaze to see that class had already ended and cleared out, leaving Yutaka and her as the only two left inside.

"Oh...I guess I didn't notice the bell. Um, I wasn't acting weird or anything during class, was I?" she asked, though not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"W...Well, you had this really intense look on your face, I thought you were just paying attention really hard. Okabe-sensei tried calling you to answer a question, but you just stared at him until he called another person. I think you might have scared him a little."

Hiyori sighed, lamenting her lack of attentiveness before responding, "Ugh, alright, I guess it's time to go. Where're the other two?"

"Ah, they said they'd be outside when I told them I was going to wait for you, so we could all walk home together." Yutaka relayed as her friend packed her stuff into her satchel.

"Alright then, let's head down there so they don't wait too long." Hiyori said, and the two girls quickly vacated the room and began making their way outside. _I'd rather not give them something else to worry about.__ I'll just leave the day-dreaming off till later, when I can finally figure all this out, I just hope thing's don't get more screwed up than they already are._

The two walked through the shoe-lockers, meeting with the Minami and Patty outside, and began the journey home. All in all, things were starting to look up.

* * *

"I'M IN DESPAIR!

Arriving home after bidding Yutaka a goodbye on the train, Hiyori had immediately ran to the kitchen (She hadn't eaten all day, after all), and then to her room, where she whipped out a notebook and sat down to decide on a course of action. Unfortunately, after a few hours of sitting and thinking, she had written down almost nothing. After her sudden outburst, she slumped over her desk, upsetting multiple balls of crumpled paper.

"My lack of an ability to plan has left me in despair," she mumbled into her notebook, doing her best Zet00bou impression.

Shifting into a less awkward position, she decided to review what she had written for the umpteenth time, if for no other reason than to take her mind off her apparent despair:

Hiyori's Plan of Attack!

Target: Hiiragi-sempai

Objective: Overcome writers anxiety.

Mission: Pursue target romantically to achieve objective. Mission can be carried out in multiple manners, I.E. coy flirtation, general friendship build-up, etc. etc...

...and that was it.

It's been how many hours, and that was all she's come up with so far? Her face connected with the pad once again, painfully squashing one of the crumpled balls of paper.

Was it supposed to be this hard? It's not like she had any prior experience or anything. She didn't even know how to start, let alone what to do once things got rolling, if they even got that far. Well, it isn't exactly normal is it, this whole concept, not exactly something your average highschool girl has to go through. Though, to be fair, she isn't exactly normal.

_Hmph, well there's one thing I do know, I need to improve my friendship with Kagami-sempai. If I'm really lucky, that'll be enough and I won't even have to go on with this hair-brained scheme. That'd probably be the best turn of events-_

Hiyori suddenly yawned, her thoughts cutting abruptly, her eye-lids got heavier, and her mind getting foggy, more yawns interspersing her thoughts.

_Mmmm, maybe I...should c...call it an early...an early..._

Hiyori's eyes slowly closed, and she absent-mindedly snuggled into her desk, notebook, and a crumpled up piece of paper before drifting off to sleep.

You ever sleep for a really long time, only to wake up and feel like no time has passed between then and now? Hiyori certainly felt like that as her eyes fluttered open from her long nap.

Raising herself form the desk, she tried rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and pulled away the wad of paper that stuck to her face, the crumples leaving a pattern of angry red marks. She rubbed her cheek and turned to look at the clock resting on her desk.

Hiyori grimaced as the clock flashed 11:17pm at her, even after such a long nap she still felt groggy and exhausted. Glancing forlornly at the paper sitting on the top of her desk, she sighed before conceding that she wasn't going to get any farther with it tonight and that she'd do much better after a good nights rest.

Stretching her arms above her head and yawning, Hiyori extricated herself from the desk and began slipping off her clothes, barely managing to gather her pajamas up and to put them on before stumbling over to her bed.

She flipped off the light and rolled underneath her covers, nuzzling into her soft pillow before absently brushing away a few stray manga that fell from the usually neat pile resting beside it.

And in a few seconds, she was fast asleep.

* * *

Perhaps the gods decided to cut the tightly wound girl some slack, as Hiyori managed to get through the night with little difficulty, and awoke the next morning refreshed and energized.

As resfreshed and energized a troubled highschool girl with massive writers block could be on a day with dismal gray clouds that looked about ready to rain at any second anyway.

Still, the half a day and night's worth of rest was doing wonders for Hiyori's disposition. She was almost cheerful as she packed up her bento and grabbed her umbrella before heading out the door and to the school, glancing briefly at the coal grey clouds overhead.

The gods seemed to be feeling especially charitable that day it seemed, as the clouds managed to hold their rain the whole way, and Hiyori made it to the school slightly jubilant and bone dry.

Thankfully, the day progressed pretty normally, though Hiyori occasionally lapsed into a stray thought of what to do to get closer to Kagami (_"I could slip a note into her locker. Wait, do people even do that in real life?" "I could "accidentally" bump into her on the street, but she's usually with with her friends, or Izumi-sempai." "Hmmm, she might just get annoyed or creeped out if I keep randomly bumping into her." "Arrgh! Why do situations in anime turn out to be horrible and annoying in real life?!"_).

Lunch period rolled around, and while Patty, Yutaka, and Minami all noticed their friends spacey demeanor, they thought it was wise to not press her, lest they trigger another terrifying event flag. They were certain that if Hiyori wanted to talk to them about whatever was bothering her, she'd just come out and say it. And if and when that does happen, they'll be there for her.

Hiyori herself just spent the lunch hour half-listening to her friends conversations, and staring out the window thinking about Kagami. She was suddenly pulled from her reverie at the small plink plink sound of water droplets hitting glass.

_Looks like the clouds finally gave up._

Her fist clenched her chop-sticks tightly as she watched a steady stream of droplets bombard the windows.

_This might be a bad sign._

Lunch ended, and lessons continued without incident, minus an instance where Okabe-sensei almost called on Hiyori to answer a problem on the board, but seemed to change his mind mid-sentence after a visible shudder ("Alright, who can answer this problem? How about you Tam-...H-How about you Chiri-san?").

As the final bell rang, Patty quickly shoved her books into her bag and hurried to Hiyori's seat, patting her on the head to grab her attention, "Hiyorin, I was thinking we could all head over to my place today and hang out for a bit, what-do-you-say?" she asked, adding the last bit in english.

"Nn, sorry guys," she lamented as Yutaka and Minami joined them, "the animation research club's having a meeting today, Kō-chan sempai would kill me if I missed it."

"Aw, alright then, just don't forget about your dear old friends and hang out with us soon, 'kay?" said Patty as she rustled the shorter girls hair before grabbing the other two girls by the wrists and dragging them out the door, saying something about needing models for some new cosplay outfits she was working on.

Hiyori tried her best to smooth down her now unkempt hair before stuffing the last book in her bag, before heading out the door to the animation research clubs classroom, and greeting her friend Kō Yasaka, the clubs second year president.

Thankfully for Hiyori, the meeting went pretty quickly as many of the other club members hadn't finished their projects in time, though this seemed to really irk Kō. While this meant that many of them had to suffer a scolding from their president, it also meant that the meeting would end earlier and everyone could head home before the rain got much worse.

So bidding farewell to her sempai, Hiyori walked down the darkened corridor towards the shoe-lockers. The constant pounding against the windows drew her attention, and she turned her head to look outside and watched the hundreds of droplets cascade and burst as they connected with the panes of glass, leaving faint trails of water.

It's unfortunate that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, otherwise she would have seen the girl coming around the corner instead of bumping into her.

It's pretty easy to see where this is going.

Hiyori fell backwards and onto the ground, her glasses slipping of her face and falling with a clatter against the linoleum flooring.

"A-Ah, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed at the blurry figure standing above her, "Wh-Where are my glasses?" she wondered aloud as she pawed at the ground for them, until the blurry figure stooped down and picked them, brushing them off lightly before handing them to the flustered otaku.

"Sorry Hiyori-san, I should have been watching where I was going. Here're your glasses."

The voice made Hiyori freeze.

_No way._

She reached a shaky hand out and grasped her glasses.

_That's just...way too convenient...too uncanny..._

She slipped them on, and stared at the purple haired girl in front of her.

"Eh?! H-Hiiragi-sempai?!"

_Somewhere, god is laughing at me._

* * *

**End Notes:**

I'M IN DESPAIR

My inability to write good exposition has left me in despair!

Bah, I don't know if it's that bad, but I always feel like I've got a problem with exposition. Sometimes I feel like I'm over-saturating the story with info, so I try to dial it back a bit, but then I read back over it and it feels a bit too general so I try to add more, and it's this constant back-and-forth-back-and-forth thing going on till I just get sick of it and hope that I've gotten a good balance.

Here's a tidbit, the character Kō Yasaka isn't an original character. She's a secondary character that appeared in the manga (which I didn't know because I'm an utter prat and the internet hates me) and Lucky Star PS2 game as the president of the Animation Research Club that Hiyori's a member of, so I thought I'd just throw her up in there. I've not played the game unfortunately, not being able to speak or read Japanese AT ALL thank you very much, nor gotten very far in the manga (about chapter 21), so don't expect her to become a major character or really get any lines, as I've no idea what her personality is like.

Anyway, looks like things are starting to get interesting for our intrepid little heroine. I wasn't originally going to end with a cliff-hanger, but it actually seemed like a good place to stop it, sets up for the massive aneurysm you just KNOW Hiyori's going to have in the next chapter. HA! Hope you all enjoy cute fluff at her expense, because there's going to be a lot of it.

And don't forget to review and leave me feedback, it is much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mad Pierrot Le Fou

P.S. ...ah crap, I did it again.


	3. Hold On

**Disclaimer: **Wait...what am I doing? Why am I writing a disclaimer? Really it make no sense. It's not like any legal recourse can be taken against me, and it's pretty redundant since the site has it's own legal disclaimers and...what? Oh right, that. Bah, curse my sense of tradition!

Well now it seems like we may be getting some momentum going on. Once again, thanks to all you fantastic people leaving me reviews.

But yeah, yuri fic, teenage girls, problems blah blah you get the drill. Now go, read, enjoy yourselves. Or not. It's really up to you.

* * *

"Eh?! H-Hiiragi-sempai?!"

Hiyori was flabbergasted. Was that the right word? Oh yes, flabbergasted worked fine. In her (admittedly rather infinitesimal) planning she hadn't counted on, or even considered confronting Kagami so soon. This immediately launched her into the throes of panic.

_Okay! Okay! Calm down, don't do anything stupid, just...calm down. You were going to talk to her eventually anyway, what's the matter if it's a little sooner than you thought, just calm down. Say something to her and stop standing there like an idiot with your mouth hanging open. JUST. CALM. DOWN._

Hiyori moved her lips to greet her friend, but unfortunately hadn't followed her brain's competent tip, not calming down enough to form a coherent sentence and garbling out a few unintelligible noises while Kagami just stared at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Mm, mrrgl, hrmb..."

Fortunately, Kagami didn't seem to dwell on it (at least not visibly), and responded when Hiyori managed a strangled "hi."

"Hey Hiyori-san," she said, raising her hand in greetings. "You haven't you headed home yet? Classes let out a while ago."

The sputtering girl finally managed to get her wits about her, "U-Um, I...had an animation club meeting and I just got out. What are you st-still doing here sempai?"

"I just had something to do for the student council, and then Jinroku-sensei needed me to help him move some things."

"Really?" Hiyori asked, recalling to mind one of the other teachers in the school, "Doesn't he creep you out?"

"Oh yeah, he's kind of scary. I've heard rumours that he's got this huge tattoo of an Oni on his back," whispered Kagami conspiratorially, leaning in towards Hiyori with her hand on the side of her mouth.

"I heard he got it because he used to be in the yakuza or something," Hiyori whispered back while nodding vigorously.

"But he doesn't really act weird or anything, and that's what makes him unsettling," said Kagami as she laughed slightly, and soon Hiyori was giggling along with her.

Their titters subsided and a lull in the conversation settled into place as Kagami stared out the rain pelted windows. Hiyori, growing anxious in the sudden silence, decided to speak up.

"A-Are you okay sempai? Is something bothering you?"

"Hmmm?" Kagami, breaking from her reverie, turned towards her friend. "Oh, yeah, It's just that I lent Konata my umbrella, she forgot hers and I wasn't going home for a while. I was hoping the rain would let up by the time I finished, but that didn't exactly work out," she punctuated with a gesture towards the window, "and the school's out of spares, I just checked, so now I've got to walk home in the rain." She said that last bit offhandedly as if it was no big deal, and started heading for the shoe-lockers. "I'm wondering how long it'll take me to get to the station in this rain, I really don't want to risk catching a cold, but I don't really have a choice..."

Hiyori's heart thumped like a drum against her ribcage as she followed Kagami towards the locker-room. This was a golden opportunity, she couldn't let it go by, now was her time to act!

"O-Oh? W-Well I guess if...y'know if you don't really mind, we...wecouldbothshareminetillwegettothetrainstation..." She mumbled, managing to get it out in one breath.

She felt her mouth dry out despite the heavy moisture in the air as she waited for her sempai's response. Her heart thundered even louder in her chest, she was almost sure Kagami could hear it.

Kagami herself had to take a few seconds to fully figure out what Hiyori had just said, but managed to catch on before she unwittingly caused the younger girl more undeserved stress.

"Ah! Really? You wouldn't mind?" Kagami was slightly taken aback by Hiyori's sudden benevolence, "I really don't want to inconvenience you or anything, it's raining pretty hard out there, and I'd probably slow you down..."

_Okay, okay, don't mess this up, you can do it, here we go, cute voice, annnnnd smile!_

"N-No, not at all! I can't let you walk all the way to the station in the rain like this, what kind of friend would I be," she said, and she gave Kagami as dazzling a smile as she could muster in her strained state, faltering very little.

She practically leapt into the air when she saw the faint blush crawl across Kagami's face as she lightly scratched her cheek with an index finger.

"T-Thanks Hiyori-san, your a life-saver. Just let me get my shoes, I'll be right back," and with that she rushed behind the rows of lockers and out of sight.

When she was sure her sempai was out of range, Hiyori's smile fell from her face and she grabbed her chest, slamming her palm into the wall as air practically heaved in and out of her lungs, her constrained anxiety finally releasing as she stumbled to her locker. Her mind raced as she pulled out her shoes and bent over to trade them for the ones she was currently wearing.

_Oh god, oh god I just ran into Hiiragi-sempai, literally **ran into her** and now we're going to walk to the train station together under the same umbrella, **under the same umbrella! **Like in anime when people write down the names of who they like! This is happening way too fast I'm not prepared for this! Why didn't I plan last night!? Oh geez, oh man..._

"You okay Hiyori-san?"

Hiyori suddenly lurched forward in surprise and wanged her head against the locker above her own, Kagami's sudden interruption immediately pulling her out of her internal neurotic ramblings. She let out a pained moan and her hands grasped her charmingly wide forehead to rub the red welt that was starting to appear.

Kagami, understandably, was startled by her friend suddenly slamming her face against large metal walls, and reacted with the appropriate concernment.

"Ah! Are you okay?! I didn't mean to surprise you like that, you were just standing there with your shoe half on..." she rambled while stooping down and placing a hand on her pained friends shoulder, worry and vague surprise etched across her features.

Hiyori responded in her strained gravely voice "It's alright sempai, _urrrg_, I was just...deep in my thoughts, it's no big deal, the pain's already going away..."

The pain **was **subsiding somewhat, though Hiyori wondered if it was natural, or if it had something to do with the sudden yet comforting warmth and weight she felt on her shoulder through her coat.

After a few more seconds of pained mewling, she stood up, wobbling slightly. Kagami let her hand fall from her friend's shoulder (who concealed her look of disappointment) and finishing buttoning her coat. "So...you ready?"

Hiyori nodded, buttoning up to her chin and wrapped her scarf around her neck before clicking open her umbrella.

_...Sigh..._

"Alright sempai, let's go."

* * *

"...So..."

"...Yeah..."

It's unfortunate, when you don't talk to a person that often. When you find yourself spending time with them for whatever convoluted reason, it invariably feels awkward because you can't seem to think of anything to say. After all, you hadn't really spent enough time with them to figure out what exactly their interests are. Then you start feeling guilty, like you could have at least tried a little harder and taken the time to get to know them just a little bit better.

This was the feeling that plagued Kagami as the two of them walked through the pouring rain towards the station. She hadn't spent enough time with Hiyori personally to really know her, after all they had only ever "hung out" whenever everyone ended up doing something together in a large group, and she was usually preoccupied with her own friends. Now she was feeling increasingly awkward and a tiny bit guilty over the silence.

The methodical thumping of water against canvas or whatever the umbrella was made of and the dismal clouds above certainly weren't helping in any way either, and only added to her self annoyance.

Hiyori, of course, was quiet for an entirely different reason.

_-clichéd that was, actually running into her like out of some anime, I didn't even know that happened in real life! And now we're walking home under the same umbrella?! Oh man, it's like...a lot of the manga I've written...but that makes it even worse somehow! And then I act like a complete moron, smacking my face against the locker, she probably thinks I'm a complete spaz. Oh god-_

"Y'know...I can hold that if your arm's getting tired," said Kagami abruptly. She had offered to hold the umbrella when they first started walking, but the otaku had adamantly refused.

"Wh-What? stuttered Hiyori, snapping out of her daze.

"The umbrella, it was dipping a little, your back's getting all wet. Here, let me hold it now," said Kagami. She reached for the umbrella and her hand accidentally brushed over Hiyori's, the sudden contact causing the fujoshi to drop it. Thankfully, Kagami managed to quickly catch it and keep herself shielded from the rain. Not too thankfully, Hiyori slipped on the slick sidewalk and fell, twisting herself mid-air so she wouldn't land on her left hand, but leaving herself open to the pouring rain.

Much flustered apologizing later (mostly from Hiyori strangely), the two were once again on their way, Kagami holding the umbrella aloft and doing her best to shield her already doused and slightly shivering friend.

Silence still trudged along with them unfortunately, and both girls just stared forward, becoming more aware of the awkwardness of the situation.

It was becoming almost unbearable when Kagami spoke up and broke the moment of silence once again.

"So...Yutaka mentioned you write doujinshi. Is that right?" she asked, thinking back to a visit to Konata's where the otaku's mini-cousin told her and Tsukasa tidbits about her closest friends. Her mind was scraping for topics.

Hiyori was slightly surprised by the question, but managed to catch herself before she faltered too much, "Nn, y-yeah, that's right..."

Silence.

"Well what kind do you write?" asked Kagami, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Oh, erm," Hiyori grimaced while scratching her cheek as she struggled with this delicate question, "muh...mostly romance doujin, with characters I like...but I've written a few originals too."

A thoughtful look passed over Kagami's face for a moment. "So what do you write them for, just fun?"

"Well, it's mostly for fun, I'm still is high school after all, but I've sold a few at comiket in the last few years. They're not exactly the most popular, but I get good feedback occasionally, and one of my last books managed to sell out."

Kagami nodded her head as they rounded a corner, "That sounds like a big accomplishment. I'm surprised I didn't see you at the last one though, Konata pretty much had me and my sister running all over the place."

"Mnn, I was there, but it's a pretty big place so I'm not surprised we didn't run into eachother, plus we didn't even know eachother then," said Hiyori thoughtfully as they waited for a crosswalk light to change.

"I wasn't selling anything myself, but I did manage to finish some manga for my circle to sell," she remembered the compilation of Yutaka/Minami inspired manga she had written along with some R00en Ma00en doujin, "But I didn't know you went to comiket, I never would've pegged you as the type."

It was Kagami's turn to scratch her cheek in embarrassment, "Well I'm not a regular attendee, but Konata's dragged me there twice already. I think she just wanted to use me to buy and carry more manga though," she said with an annoyed tone, to which Hiyori couldn't help but giggle.

"Certainly sounds like Izumi-sempai," she imagined Konata piling more and more manga onto Kagami's straining arms, "...so did you find anything you liked while you were there?" she asked hoping to gain some insight to Kagami's personality. You can learn a lot about a person by the types of manga they read after all. Or...at least that's what she made up on the spot.

_...It could be true._

Kagami thought for a few moments before blushing severely as she thought back to the certain doujin she had picked up out of curiosity when she was at the convention.

"S-Sousuke..."

"Nn?"

"...No, I didn't really find anything for myself," she said flatly. "But I did have..._fun, _in a weird masochistic way I guess, which always seems to be the case whenever Konata's involved," she added somewhat venomously, "Still, it was pretty interesting, we saw this really bizarrely epic fight between these two clerks..."

Hiyori listened intently as Kagami rattled on about her trip with her sister and Konata to comiket. It was a relief to know that she at least tolerated hardcore otaku (S_he is friends with Izumi-sempai after all_). She had been worried she might drive her sempai away with her geeky tendencies, but if she managed to _slowly_ wean her more..._eccentric _propensities on her, things might go a little easier.

_I hope._

Graciously enough, Kagami's tale managed to last them the rest of the trip, and she spotted the station through the dark haze of the rain just down the street. She lightly nudged Kagami, who was still recounting her trip.

"Sempai, we're here."

"Oh? I didn't even notice, what time is it?" she checked her watch, before looking at Hiyori and gesturing at the station with her thumb," C'mon, if we hurry we can catch the train before it leaves so we won't have to wait for the next one." She then reached down and grasped Hiyori's hand in her own before sprinting towards the station and dragging to poor blushing girl behind her.

The sudden warmth of Kagami's hand caused many sudden visions to dance around in Hiyori's head. She imagined sitting next to Kagami alone in an empty train car, both probably closer to one another than normal for regular friends. The tsundere would be exhausted from a day of classes, club activities, and manic otaku, and would close her eyes and gently nod off.

She'd end up leaning against Hiyori, her shoulder giving the fujoshi a pleasant warmth throughout her right side. In reality she would most likely stiffen up like a board, embarrassed out of her mind, but there in her dream-sequence she just patted her sempai on the head, snuggled against that warm shoulder, and enjoyed the ride.

Hiyori's dream-scape shattered, regrettably, after they bought their tickets and stepped into the train to see that nearly every seat in the large metal booth was packed. Fortuitously, one seat was left open and Hiyori was quick to act in Kagami's good graces, "You take the seat sempai, really, I won't mind standing."

Kagami only smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "You offered me your umbrella, held it more that half the way here, then fell in the rain and got soaked because of it. You deserve more than that seat. Take it." She stated matter-of-factly.

Hiyori's protests died in her throat under her sempai's playful smirk, and she silently yet solemnly plopped into the available seat and shyly fidgeted while Kagami grabbed the passenger hand-rail that stood in front of her.

No sooner had the twin-tailed girl reached for the handlebar than the train lurched to life and began on it's journey.

* * *

Dreary grey clouds hung in the sky over the train as it rumbled along it's tracks, the metallic hum almost drowning out the noise of the heavy rain drops exploding against the metal walls.

The trip was mostly uneventful as the two friends were mostly silent, though largely more for not wanting to disturb other passengers in the packed train car than because of an uneasy aura. Indeed, both seemed too exhausted to really mind a bit of silence now, Kagami's shoulders sagging as she let out a quiet sigh.

Not quiet enough though.

"Sempai?" murmured Hiyori, her ears perking, "If you're tired you can sit, I'm...a bit dryer now...sort of..."

"No...no that's alright," Kagami said, though she did seem to mull it over before deciding that Hiyori still deserved to sit more that she did, "I'm just a bit tired is all, after doing all those random tasks for sensei," she rolled her shoulders, sore from moving many boxes filled with test papers.

_Plus there's Konata, _she groaned inwardly. She cared deeply for her friend, but the constant teasing got exhausting over a time. Still, she was pretty lucky to have run into Hiyori. That saved her the miserable walk through the rain she had been dreading. In fact, the younger student _was_ acting remarkably kind to someone she didn't know very well...

"Hmmm," Kagami frowned thoughtfully and looked down at her friend, a stray thought passing through her overly observant mind.

"Hiyori-san?"

"Nn?" she looked up lazily.

"Why...why are you being so nice to me?"

Hiyori stared blankly for a few seconds, not entirely understanding the sentiment behind the question, then her eyes slowly widened in surprise. Kagami quickly realized how badly she worded the question and quickly backpedaled.

"No no! I'm not trying to sound ungrateful or anything! " she said while waving her free hand back and forth, "It's just that...well...we've never really talked much or anything till now. I'm just a little surprised at how nice your being to someone who's almost a stranger to you..." she trailed off, feeling even more embarrassed by her stupid question, her face reddening and her body swaying slightly. She had to learn to stop overthinking these things so much.

"I...I don't know sempai," her brain immediately shrieked _LIAR_ and she fought down a grimace, "I wouldn't call you a stranger. We may not be as close as we are to our other friends, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you walk home in the rain. Like I said, what kind of friend would that make me," then she added while fighting a blush, "And who knows, maybe this was a sign for us to become...closer...friends I mean! Closer friends!"

_Yeah, that was smooth._

Kagami stared at the younger girl in front of her, and the beginnings of a small smile began to tug at her mouth. She was just being overly paranoid, just because someones nice doesn't mean they have some sort of secret motive. She was too used to being wary of other peoples altruism, thanks in part to Konata using it as a subtle way to irritate her. And even then, she admitted, her paranoia was a little overboard, it's not like Konata was overly malicious with her teasing. Maybe it was just a personal problem she had.

_I've really got to work on trusting people more,_ she thought to herself.

Before Kagami could openly respond however, she was jostled slightly as the train ground to a halt and the conductor announced their stop.

She glanced back towards the exit as people shuffled towards the doors, then turned back to Hiyori, "Well...I guess this is it, though I'm really not looking forward to walking through all that rain, it looks like it might start thundering soon too. I...guess I'll see you tomorrow...maybe." she finished rather lamely and started heading for the door.

_Crap! Do something, do something! _Hiyori's mind shouted, knowing full well that if she didn't act quickly, things could very easily go back to normal tomorrow, making all the headway that had been accomplished today, no mater how accidental is was, go to waste.

It took her a few seconds of frantic thinking before her head whipped around down at her bundled umbrella and she had an idea strike her. She acted before she could think anymore thoroughly or rationally.

"Hiiragi-sempai!" she called just as Kagami was out the exit.

Kagami turned and saw Hiyori quickly walking toward her before she felt something thrust into her chest. Looking down, she saw that she was now holding Hiyori's umbrella. It silently dawned on her what her friend was doing.

"Oh...NO! I couldn't! You still have walk home too! I can't take your umbrella." she countered through flustered dumbfoundedness.

_Ok, c'mon Hiyori, don't mess this up, if you do you may never get over your anxiety!_

"I'm already soaked sempai, I don't think it'll matter much. Just think of it as a...a consummation of our closer friendship," she couldn't help but smile as she said those words, "You can just give it back to me at school tomorrow."

Before Kagami could argue further, the conductor ordered for the passengers to clear the doors as they slid shut, and she was left to stand on the platform as Hiyori waved from behind the glass windows. Both watched the other slowly disappear as the train plodded away.

She looked thoughtfully at the umbrella for a few seconds before the corners of her mouth quirked upwards into a soft smile. With a click, she opened it and started home.

* * *

_Yes! YES! I did it! I've made my first steps towards getting over my writers block!_

Hiyori still stood by the door of the train car, holding onto the pole. Her mind was a tumultuous celebration that rivaled the pounding of the rain.

_I can't believe how well that turned out. I mean...sure I made a bit of a fool out of myself, but I'll try not to act like such a spaz tomorrow when she gives back my umbre- _

Hiyori blinked.

She looked down at her hand.

She flexed her fingers as if grasping something that wasn't there.

A flash of light followed by a low rumbling tore through the sky.

_...sonovab-_

* * *

Transitioning to the next day, the lightning and thunder had quieted down, and the rain shifted to a slight hazy drizzle. The coal grey clouds still hung overhead though, threatening to release their contents at the slightest provocation.

Kagami was walking with her twin sister to the school like any other day, but in her left hand she clutched Hiyori's umbrella. Tsukasa might have noticed how strange it was that her sister was carrying an umbrella after having given hers to Konata the previous day if she wasn't currently fretting over the fact that she hadn't completed the homework that was due that morning.

"O-Onee-chan, what am I going to do? We had a week to do the assignment and I haven't finished it!" the more spacey of the two whined.

"Well you need to start managing your time better, and you need more willpower. Geez, you fell asleep after only working on it for half an hour," Kagami nettled, casting a disapproving sidelong glance.

Her sisters only response was to sniffle loudly and pitiably, causing Kagami to shut her eyes and sigh before giving in, "Alright, alright, you can copy off of mine, but next time you might not be so lucky to have the same assignment as me."

Tsukasa's eyes sparkled at her sister's altruism, and thanked her vigorously in a sugary sweet voice. Kagami only sighed again as they entered the school grounds and saw a familiar blue mess of hair approach.

"Ka-Ga-Min!" said blue mess shouted while approaching, "Thank's again for lending me your umbrella! And look, I remembered to bring it back!"

Konata smiled brightly while waving Kagami's umbrella above her head with dramatic flair, as if remembering to return something she had borrowed the previous day was a momentous accomplishment.

_Then again, _Kagami thought sardonically, _It very well might be for her._

Konata approached to hand over what she had borrowed, but as she held her hand out to relinquish it she spotted the other umbrella clenched in Kagami's left hand.

The mischievous smile never leaving her face, she looked down at the umbrella in Kagami's hand, then at the one she was holding, then back again in a slow double-take fashion. She lifted a curious free hand to her face.

"Kagamin...you lending me your umbrella yesterday wasn't something I imagined right?"

Kagami sighed and placed her hands on her coat-clad hips, "No, your late nights of "level-grinding" aren't making you hallucinate. Someone lent me theirs yesterday-" But before she could say who had, Konata interjected.

"Ooh! _Who was it Kagamin? _Did you meet a boy yesterday out in the rain? Did he offer to lend the damsel in distress his only means of staying safe and dry? Were you so moved by this generosity that your black heart filled with love, and you ended up sharing a passionate kiss under that very umbr-**_GACK!_**" Konata was cut short when Kagami bopped her on the head with Hiyori's umbrella.

"Stop making up fantasies about me," she said, her stoically peeved expression contrasting with the heavy blush across her face, her sister imploring her not to be so violent. "It's Hiyori-san's, I met her after helping Jinroku-sensei and she let me borrow it after we walked to the station together."

Konata was disappointed by such a mundane explanation and rubbed her sore head, but still smiled. "Hiyorin's always good in a pinch. Too bad it wasn't something more romantic though..." she punctuated with a sigh.

"Whatever," intoned Kagami. "So...did you finish the homework for today?" she asked, and smiled at the predictable sight of Konata stopping mid-step, her smile frozen on her face.

"W...w-we had homework due today?" she asked nervously while turning to face her tsundere friend, who only nodded with a sweetly sadistic bent in her smile, which only grew wider as Konata proceeded to freak out. It was fun when she managed to get back at the otaku.

"K-Kagamin! You have to let me copy off you!" she pleaded, her face panicked with sweat, and the three of them walked into the school before the bell rang, ready for another day of higher education.

* * *

Things were fairly normal.

Normal day, normal classes, normal schedule.

So when lunch rolled around, it was a bit peculiar when Kagami had, rather than heading over to Kuroi-sensei's class to eat with her friends, instead traveled down the staircase with Hiyori's umbrella clutched to her chest.

It was a bit strange being in an lower-grades corridor. The younger students tended to stare, and she was sure a few of them were a little intimidated as she walked through the hall asking passers-by for directions to Okabe-sensei's class.

So there she stood, outside the door that led into Hiyori's classroom, pondering. What exactly was she pondering? Well, for some odd, undetermined reason, she felt almost..._embarrassed. _What Hiyori had said the previous day, the whole "consummation of our closer friendship" thing...was she really going to actively work at becoming closer to her?

Kagami had never had anybody do that before...or at least never say it out loud. It was a bit, well, a bit odd that she'd just randomly declare something like that. It was nice of course, but...she just didn't know...

She frowned inwardly. _God, I'm just being paranoid again, she was just trying to be nice. I need to stop over-analyzing and just let these good things happen. There's nothing wrong with someone wanting to be friends with me._

Expression shifting into a look of determination, and she clutched the umbrella even tighter in her left fist before raising her free hand to the door handle and sliding it open.

Thankfully, the rules of dramatization didn't seem to apply to real life (or at least in this case) as all eyes in the classroom didn't focus on her entrance. Kagami breathed a sigh of relief before scanning the crowded classroom for the black-haired girl (and the green, pink, and blonde-haired girls by proxy).

It only took her a few seconds to find the two taller girls in the class but, oddly, she didn't see Hiyori's head among them.

As she walked toward them, Yutaka was the first to look up from her food and notice her. "Ah, Kagami-san? Is Onee-chan here too?" She asked, looking behind Kagami for her cousins distinctive hair.

"Ah, no Yutaka-chan, I came her myself," said Kagami, smiling at the smaller girl. "Actually I'm looking for Hiyori-san, I wanted to give this back to her, do you know where she is?" she asked the three of them.

"She sent me an e-mail earlier actually," said Patty thoughtfully. "Apparently she caught a nasty cold and couldn't come in today."

"R-Really..." Kagami stuttered, her expression suddenly becoming downcast and guilty. _Hiyori-san, if you hadn't given me your umbrella yesterday you probably wouldn't have gotten sick._

"Are you three going to visit her after classes are over?" she inquired.

"Well, we wanted to," said Patty, "But I've got an early shift for work today."

"I've got to buy groceries after school," said Minami in her usual monotone.

"And I've got to get home and clean with Yui-nee-chan, her husbands coming back from one of his business trips tonight," squeaked Yutaka.

"You could still go visit her by yourself, I'm sure she'd be happy to have some company," chimed in a smiling Patty. She may not be able to cheer up her sick friend, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to get others to do it in her place.

Kagami frowned. "Well, I would, but...I don't know where she lives..."

"You could take Onee-chan with you, she knows the way I think. I'm sure Hiyori-chan would be happy to see both of you," interjected Yutaka, "she doesn't have to clean, so we won't need her till we start cooking dinner."

Kagami's frown deepened, did she really want to spend time with both otaku at the same time? It might be too much for her to handle.

_Well, _she thought, _it's not like I've got much choice._

She sighed once more before smiling at the three girls in front of her, "Alright, I'll see if Konata wants to visit Hiyori-san with me, thanks for your help," and she moved towards the door.

"Your welcome Ka-ga-min!" called out Patty in english, then added in japanese, "Be sure to tell Hiyorin we're sorry for not visiting her today."

Kagami smiled and gave them a thumbs up before exiting the room. She stood outside in the hall for a few moments, deliberating on what she was going to do.

_Hmmm, Konata'll probably take me if ask her but...do I really want to? I could just wait until she get's better and give it back to her then, that would less hassle. But, then again I do feel sort of guilty, and it would be nicer to visit her in person since those three won't, she'll probably feel let down if no one visits..._

She closed her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh as she made up her mind and started for Kuroi's classroom. She only had half of the lunch period left to talk to Konata.

* * *

**End Note:** First I have to apologize for just how damn long this chapter took. Really, I didn't mean for it to take this long, but real life has been kicking me around like a nerf ball lately. I finally had a free weekend from shooting photo's to revise and finish it, and I still had to shear off a bit at the end (I'll put in the next chapter though, so don't worry). This is the longest chapter yet though, so I hope that sort of makes up for it a little.

Also, I've learned just how difficult it is to write for Kagami when Konata isn't involved. Considering she's only really tsundere around Konata, who's her primary antagonist, and that when she gets her best character interaction (which probably explains why Konami is so damn popular). Or at least that's how I found it. Still, I tried my best to write her in a believable manner, and I hope I at least made a passable try.

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be done, but hopefully it won't take as long or longer than this one, especially since I have a good portion of it written already.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to review and leave me that wonderful feedback that keeps me chugging along. It is very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mad Pierrot Le Fou

P.S. Anybody else feel a little bad for Hiyori getting practically annihilated by Minami's dog in the latest OVA trailer? I mean, it's hilarious and all, but...man, that's one bad dog!

P.P.S. A did a slight revision, and fixed the bit about comiket.


	4. Come On Up To The House

**Disclaimer:** Why are you still reading these disclaimers?

New chapter! Isn't that the bee's knees? What a crazy journey this is going to be.

You know the drill.

* * *

Hiyori sniffled as she nestled under the covers of her bed, her face flushed and surrounded by tissues that hadn't made it into the waste bin, along with a volume of Gen00iken clutched in her right hand. She'd tried reading it, but had given up after a few pages due to a lack of concentration. She really hated being sick.

_That's your fault though, you know that right? You just HAD to give her your only way of keeping dry, even after soaking yourself thanks to your own awkward clumsiness._

Grimacing, she rolled over on her side and shut her eyes while sniffling loudly. After giving Kagami the umbrella, the rain had started pouring in full force to accompany the thunder and lightning. She'd had to rush home through the torrential rain, completely drenched upon arrival. By the time she had stepped into her warm cozy house, she was already starting to feel sick.

After slipping off her wet clothes and getting a lecture about not forgetting things at school (she hadn't told her mother the real reason she'd not had her umbrella), Hiyori tried taking a nap, hoping it would help. Unfortunately, she'd woken feeling even worse. Headache, congested sinuses, a slight fever, the works.

_At least it was worth it...maybe._

She flipped around onto her front, mewling into the pillow. It wasn't so bad after a good night of rest, and she'd been determined to get back to school so she could see Kagami again, but her mother was adamant about her not going, fearing her cold might mutate into a flu. Hiyori was pretty sure it didn't work like that, but was too exhausted to put up a good argument.

Sighing, she opened her eyes. She'd been too groggy to sleep for the last few hours which, admitedly, didn't really make any sense. So she just lay there in bed, trying to read manga with little accomplishment.

Grumbling, she propped herself up slightly so she could see her clock, then let her face fall with a whumph into the pillow. Classes were already over, which meant the day was already half over. If she was lucky, her fever might break before tomorrow and she'd get to go to school.

Was all this aggravation **really** worth it...?

...Probably.

After a few moments of quiet reflection, Hiyori's thoughts drifted to her three closest friends._ Maybe they'll come and visit, I could really use some company. I haven't gotten to spend any time with them...lately either..._

Her eyelids grew heavier as she slowly nodded of into her pillow despite her previous comments. It seemed that grogginess wasn't as big a problem as previously thought.

She hadn't been asleep long when she was slowly roused awake by an odd noise. Her perception was still foggy from sleep, so it took her a few seconds to realize that the annoying buzzing was the doorbell.

_Is it them? Did they decide to come over? _She thought groggily, rising slightly from the bed.

Waiting a few seconds she heard her mothers muted foot steps going down the hall towards the front door. _In a few more seconds the door should...ah, yeah, it opened._ She rolled over onto her back and listened to muffled voices conversing at the end of the hall, but wasn't able to make out the particulars who was talking, or how many voices there were.

_Ah, they're probably just saying hi to my mom, she and Patty always like to talk about western music and stuff like that, _she thought. Her mother had some weird tastes when it came to music, even Patty didn't recognize half the singers she listened to. Then again Patty only really payed attention to bands that did anime theme songs.

She was wrestled from her musings when a soft knock came at her door, and recognized her mothers voice as she inquired through the door, "Hiyori-chan? Are you awake? You've got visitors."

"Eh? Just tell Patty, Yu-chan, and Minami-chan that they can come in like they always do."

_Weird, Patty usually just barges in whenever she comes over._

"It isn't them this time, it's..." Hiyori's mother turned away from the door and asked a muffled question before turning back, "It's Hiiragi-san and Izumi-san."

The second name barely had time to register as the sick girl suddenly bolted up into a half-sitting position, inadvertently flinging her covers over the end of the bed in a dramatic fashion.

_What?! Sempai is here? NOW!? Right **NOW**?! What is she...why is she...what's going..._

Her eyes quickly scanned over the bedroom. A room full of..._incriminating materials_. Her desk was adorned with sticky notes for multiple story ideas and quick-sketches of scenes she wanted to remember, she had manga haphazardly strewn around the floor, and worst of all she had her..."_special" _doujin just sitting there on her many book-shelves in plain sight (though you'd have to scrutinize the shelves to realize what they were, she hid the ones with the more hardcore covers).

"J-Just hold on a second!" she shouted to the door as she practically vaulted from her bed and began collecting the random manga from the floor, quick as she could, before stacking them into a slightly chaotic pile by the bed. Her illness seemed to have taken a back-seat to the blind unmitigated panic.

Turning towards her desk, she rushed toward it and whipped open one of the drawers before grabbing hand-fulls of the notes and reminders and hastily stuffing them away. When all were shoved into into the brimming drawer, she slammed it shut, scowling at the tearing sounds suddenly emanating from inside. She was sure she'd regret that tomorrow.

And last but not least, she hopped all over her room and started grabbing every "mature" manga that could be seen, leaving semi-noticeable gaps all over. When she was sure she had grabbed them all (and when her arms were very, very full), she shuffled over to the closet and piled them inside before quickly snapping the door shut.

When she was finally sure she had gotten rid of every artifact of imputation, she rushed back to bed, her face flushed and sweaty and wheezing from that sudden manic workout.

"A-Alright, you can c-come in!"

As soon as she had settled in, the door swung open an in waltzed Konata, her arm up and her palm out in greeting, with Kagami trailing behind.

"Hey-o Hiyorin! We're here on behalf of Patty, Mina-rin, and Yu-chan to cheer you up!" the blue ball of energy exclaimed. "Oh, you really are sick, you look all sweaty and red."

Konata had been to Hiyori's house a few times in the past, but this was Kagami's first time, so she hung back and let her eyes wander around her new environment for a few moments.

Hiyori's room was surprisingly western, with a low table in the center of the room the only really defining "Japanese" element. Across from the door was her bed, wedged into the corner under a window with it's drawn blinds barring any natural light from entering. At the foot of the bed a few feet away was a sturdy looking wooden shelf, loaded with various manga and assorted books and boxes of notebooks, most likely full of yet to be drawn scripts.

Kagami noticed two other shelves in the room, a much smaller and less sturdy looking plastic one next to the wooden shelf, and another near her closet on the other side of the room, but both were still brimming with manga, doujin, and a few figurines. Next to the plastic shelf and against the adjoining wall was Hiyori's desk, adorned with various sketching and drawing implements; pens, pencils, stacks of paper strewn about, a tracing tablet, an overhead lamp, and a PC that took up much of the right side.

While Kagami occupied herself with admiring her surroundings, Konata had sat gingerly on Hiyori's bed, trying not to shake the ill girl too much in case she was feeling a little "blargh" as well.

"So Hiyorin..." she said, with her head cocked to the side playfully, "Kagamin was telling me how she took your umbrella yesterday after pushing you into a puddle. Is that how you got sick?"

Hiyori's only only response was to sputter nonsensically while Kagami wheeled around to face her misleading friend.

"That's **not **what I said," she intoned while glaring.

"Ah now, no need to be angry, I'm just adding a little drama is all." Her little cat smirk never left her face, "It just sounds really awkward otherwise, unless you go for that sort of thing," she added thoughtfully.

Kagami only sighed before glancing apologetically at Hiyori, "I just told her that you accidentally fell in the rain and got soaked, then gave me your umbrella. You really shouldn't have done that you know, that's probably how you got sick."

Hiyori couldn't fight back her light blush as she nodded. Her sempai really had a caring yet sorry tone in her voice as she regarded her.

_Was she really worried about me? Did she really care that much? Well, I guess that's not surprising, it's only natural to worry about your friends when they do stupid things. It's still a nice feeling though, all warm and comforting...oh! I'm starting to blush, I hope Izumi-sempai doesn't notice!_ She thought frantically while rubbing her cheek.

If Konata had noticed, she certainly didn't show it, and instead smiled and said "Kagamin can be so sweet when she wants to be. She's usually so angry and melancholic, with a fiery temper..."

This statement earned her another bop on the head.

For the next while the three girls chatted away by the bed, but migrated to the low Japanese style table before long. Hiyori had opened the blinds of her window, and the clouds were starting to give way to the sun, letting thin beams of light poke through the sky.

"Hey Hiyorin," murmured Konata as she scanned the rows of doujin on her shelves, "Didn't you get some new stuff in Akiba a few days ago? Patty-chan mentioned it at work the other day."

"A-Ah, yeah, I did," Hiyori mumbled, trying not to glance towards her closet, "I just got some doujinshi, nothing really special."

"Are they with the rest of your good stuff?" Konata asked, and Kagami's eyebrows quirked in curiosity.

"N-Nevermind that!" exclaimed Hiyori, trying to steer away from the topic, lest she scare away the only "normal person" in the room.

Konata herself just leaned in towards Hiyori with a hand over her mouth and whispered, "So what is it?"

"I-It's a...a Ryoko/Yuki," she softly whispered back.

"Wow Hiyorin, you really like those odd pairings don't you," she said aloud with a little "ho, ho, ho," laugh and sat back down.

"It...It just makes it more interesting! Regular couples get over-saturated which makes them boring over time! It's the stranger pairings that add spice!" she added defensively with a clenched fist, her eyes burning with passion, "they're an alternative that adds longevity to the interest of a series!"

The two bantered back and forth about the merits of unusual couples in anime, leaving Kagami in the middle. She wasn't really sure what to make of the whole situation. She really didn't like otaku sometimes, especially when they got together in groups.

"...but then you get even weirder couples, like Mikuru/Ryoko, and people don't know how to feel about that."

"Well...you have to at least take it to a logical extreme. And if it's done well enough, you can get people to accept things they normally wouldn't."

Konata just sighed, her cat smirk in place and her eyebrows creating an upside down V. She may not share Hiyori's passion for peculiar couples, but she had to admire her fellow otaku's spirit.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glanced towards Kagami and couldn't help but smile. The tsundere was leaning into the table on her elbow with her face resting in her hand, and she had an annoyed expression plastered across her features.

_Awww, poor Kagamin has no idea how to deal with what we're talking about, I don't know what she was expecting when you get two otaku together, she can usually barely stand me! _Konata giggled inwardly. _It's pretty weird though, I wonder why she wanted to come all the way over here just to return an umbrella...Ah well, it just gives me more to tease her about later._ Her eyes glinted devilishly. _But then, why wait, she's so adorable when she's embarrassed, I just makes me want to...kyaa!_

A wide smile broke over Konata's face, and she turned towards Kagami, her mouth open and ready to heckle. But before she could say anything, another voice piped up.

"H-Hiiragi-sempai, I'm sorry, we're probably boring you with this topic," said Hiyori while blushing slightly, her fingers interlacing in front of her face.

_...Huh?_

Konata turned to look at Hiyori.

"O-Oh! No it's alright Hiyori, it isn't nearly as bad as what Konata talks about all the time, and she's not even polite about it after," said Kagami, a light blush blooming in her cheeks.

_...Huh?_

Konata turned to look at Kagami.

"I-I'm sure Izumi-sempai isn't that bad. A-And I'm just trying to be a good host." Hiyori turned her head slightly away in embarrassment.

_...Huh._

The gears turned in Konata's head.

_What's she...I could have sworn...Hiyorin?...No no, that's just crazy! Haha, doesn't even make sense...I think I've been watching too much Na00ha lately, the subtext between her and Fate is screwing with my head..._

_...Maybe..._

_...Hmmm...This calls for experimentation..._

For the next stretch of time, Konata sat without saying much as the two girls engaged one another in polite conversation, waiting for an opportunity. It was just so BORING though. She couldn't possibly work with such mundane topics as the weather and classes. Well, maybe she could get something out of that last one, but it might be too much of a stretch.

Just when she was about to throw in the towel and admit defeat, Kagami saved her by asking the young fujoshi a sparkling question.

"...and she couldn't even apply eye-drops with help, so that's why Miyuki-chan doesn't wear contacts. How well can you see without your glasses?"

"Eh? Oh, not very well I guess, I can't really see anything without them unless it's right in my face," Hiyori said, sliding the glasses off and squinting for emphasis.

At that moment, a little light bulb seemed to ding in Konata's head. Quick as a flash she snatched the glasses from Hiyori's hands, and just as quickly slipped them on Kagami's face. It took the two girls a second to realize what had just happened, by which time Konata was already laughing loudly.

"K-Kagamin! You look so funny, like some sort of tsundere librarian or secretary, hahah! The pig-tails really pull it together."

"Ko-Konata! You shouldn't just grab things from other peoples hands like that, especially if they're someones glasses!" shouted Kagami in flustered indignation, her fingers lightly brushing the wire frames.

Hiyori herself was torn between sentiments. She was suddenly annoyed at having her glass taken from her so abruptly, but that was overshadowed by her aggravation at the fact that she couldn't see her sempai wearing them! This was like some sort of weird torture dichotomy or something!

Kagami moved to remove the glasses but Konata shot out her arms to stop her, waving them in front of the squinting tsundere's face. "Wait wait! Hiyorin hasn't seen it!"

"Well of course she can't see it, I have her glasses!" snapped Kagami with stark rationality in describing the paradox.

Konata just waved her hand dismissively "All you have to do is get really close to each other, like this!" she said as she practically shoved her face into Kagami's, to which the tsundere replied "You're face is really close, and haven't you ever heard of personal space before?"

"C'mon Kagamin, be a sport, Hiyorin wants to see it tooo, right?" asked Konata as she egged her fellow otaku on, eyes glinting dangerously in the sparse light.

"W-Well...yeah actually, I...kinda' do, Izumi-sempai makes it sound so...interesting," said the fidgeting girl, a faint blush sneaking up on her, before quickly adding "only if it's alright with you of course sempai."

Kagami just sighed as she replied "Well, they are your glasses, so...I guess it's alright," and she shot a glare at Konata before continuing, "but not a single word from you, got it?"

Konata nodded and did a little zipper closing motion over her mouth and giving Kagami two big thumbs up.

Looking back over at Hiyori through her glasses, Kagami speculated "I guess I should go over there," before wobbly getting up and moving towards where Hiyori sat across the table.

"No no, you don't have to, I'll go over there!" said Hiyori, and she bolted up and quickly moved towards Kagami, or rather where her voice was coming from.

The problem here was two-fold. One girl was wearing glasses that weren't prescribed for her, which made things fuzzy and distance hard to gauge, while the other didn't have her glasses, which, well, made everything fuzzy and distance hard to gauge. With both of them suddenly coming at each other, the results were rather predictable.

With a loud thwack, both girls foreheads smacked into the others, and they both simultaneously yelped and groaned in pain. It was all Konata could do not to burst into laughter as per Kagami's order.

Hiyori just sighed and rubbed her head as Kagami wincingly handed her the glasses.

_In anime, situations like that usually go a lot smoother, and end with a lot less pain. Then again, if this were an anime, I'd probably have to go through a season or two of convoluted "plot-development" that goes nowhere. I'm starting to wonder whether it's a fair trade-off though._

"Ah, that was fun, you two are great together, such a funny duo," sighed Konata, finally coming down from her "silent" laughing fit.

Kagami and Hiyori just silently glared at their blue-haired friend, each rubbing their own stinging red forehead, of which Hiyori's was twice as so thanks to a certain locker room incident the preceding day.

Konata, with two sets of glaring eyes as incentive, realized that by now she'd probably over-stayed her welcome, and probably needed to get home before Yui drunkenly tries to cook. So her mind hastily created a plan to facilitate her escape.

"Alright, I should get going before I end up making the two of you hate me, and I've got to get home before Yui-nee-san accidently sets the house on fire and kills everyone," she said airily and slowly rose from her seated position.

Kagami's expression softened as she responded, "Oh, well...I guess it is getting pretty late, and I don't want to get you in trouble. I suppose we should go now." If Kagami had been facing Hiyori, she would have seen the slight disappointment in her face.

Konata was quick to wave her off though. "No no, that's alright Kagamin, you should stay and have more fun, you and Hiyorin don't hang out nearly enough. I can only imagine what hilarity might ensue when I'm gone," she said while laughing.

The twin-tailed girl just gave an exasperated sigh. "Well, alright I guess, I can stay a little longer, if you don't really mi-!"

Before she could finish, Konata swooped down and wrapped her arms around the tsukkomi's neck in a loose yet affectionate embrace, whispering "Just be sure not to give her too much trouble," into her ear and making her gasp slightly.

While Konata hugged Kagami, Hiyori watched from across the table, a subtle new emotion going through her, starting in the pit of her stomach, and going into her forehead, making her brow furrow.

It was a strange feeling; it wasn't anger, it wasn't sadness, but it was acutely melancholic, with a hint of longing envy. Was it...jealousy?

Was...she jealous?

If Hiyori wasn't pondering this new emotion so intently, she might've noticed the sideward analytical glance Konata was giving her while stooped over.

While the preceding developments seemed to happen in the span of ages, it all really took place in the span of a few seconds before Konata straightened up from a furiously blushing Kagami, and turned towards Hiyori.

"Alright Hiyorin, walk me out would ya'?"

Hiyori tried to mask her expression's underlying emotions while nodding and standing up to follow Konata out her bedroom door, both of them leaving a stunned blushing tsundere alone in the room who was trying to figure out just what Konata had meant.

* * *

_It was just a friendly hug, that's all, it didn't have to MEAN anything like_ _**"that," **right? Izumi-sempai's always so clingy anyway, always hanging off of her, it's probably just normal for them._

Hiyori's mind churned to process and rationalize what she'd just seen take place in her very own room. It was just so sudden, and it seemed so..._**tender**_. She couldn't help but wonder why it bothered her so much. She'd seen Konata being physical with Kagami before, how was this any different from those times?

_God, I'm acting like such a lovesick school girl..._

_...wait._

"You're not even listening to me, are you Hiyorin?"

Hiyori flinched at the sudden intrusion to her thoughts. She'd temporarily forgotten where she was, and was suddenly facing Konata, who was already standing through the threshold of her front door.

"S-Sorry sempai, I was lost in my thoughts, what were you saying?"

"Ah, never mind, it wasn't really important," said Konata, waving her hand back and forth in a "fuhgedaboutit" manner. "Anyway, I hope you and Kagamin manage to have fun without me around. Don't tell her I said anything, but she can be kinda stuffy at times," she muttered under her breath while leaning in towards Hiyori.

"You...you don't say..."

"Also, Hiyorin, there's one last thing you should know," Konata continued, leaning in even closer, "something really important."

Hiyori gulped and leaned in towards her sempai. Konata looked to the left, then to her right, then she cupped both hands over her mouth and whispered in a fake voice:

"Everything that belongs to you, belongs to me, and everything that belongs to me, belongs only to me."

_..._

_..._

_...yeahbuhwhat?_

Even when Konata had resumed standing back out the thresh hold, Hiyori still stayed in her own leaning position, a look of confusion etched on her face. She finally pulled herself into a standing position and murmured "O...okay sempai, s-see you tomorrow," before moving to close the door.

"Oh, and Hiyorin, "said the blue-haired otaku sweetly as she walked away, "try not to keep her too late." She turned towards Hiyori one last time, gave her a wink, a smile, and a thumbs up before disappearing down the street.

* * *

When Hiyori had recovered from how bizarrely Konata had been acting, she walked back to her room and saw that Kagami was hunched over and rummaging through her book bag, which now sat on her desk.

"...What are you looking for sempai?" she asked, stepping into the room.

"Oh," said Kagami as she looked up, slightly startled, "I'm just looking for the assignment papers Patty-san told me to give you. I know there in here somewhere, she caught me after school and made me promise to...Aha! Here they are!"

She whipped out the papers at her exclamation and took a step back. Unluckily, suddenly jerking the papers out of her precariously positioned bag caused it to topple over the edge, it's contents scattering at her feet and sliding every which-way.

It was all Kagami could do to curse her own clumsiness and drop to her knees to gather up the mess.

"Oh, let me help you with that sempai," said Hiyori as she walked over to assist her friend.

Kagami expressed her thanks and a few silent seconds passed as the two girls gathered stray papers and books together, until Hiyori picked up something quite familiar to her. Something that made her heart jump.

"...Hiiragi-sempai?"

"Yeah?" responded a distracted Kagami.

"I didn't know you read Mar00ite."

Kagami froze, a look of vague shock etched across her face as if someone had discovered her darkest secret. She turned to look at the volume of manga Hiyori held in her left hand, a picture of two girls in very modest school uniforms on the cover. Kagami quickly raised her hands, all the papers and other items she was holding clattering to the ground, and babbled an explanation.

"Oh! Wuh-Well you see, Konata told me about the series and I've already read the novels so she let me borrow the manga when I'd mentioned it, next she'll probably want me to watch the anime, y-you know how she is..."

Hiyori nodded as Kagami rambled on, gulping slightly before opening her mouth once again. "So...do you like it?"

Kagami scratched her cheek lightly, still embarrassed. "Well...I haven't gotten to far into the manga, but I really did enjoy the novels."

Hiyori breathed a sigh of relief, at least Kagami wasn't opposed to yuri. Maybe she could use this to her advantage? "It's alright sempai, you don't really have to be embarrassed or anything. To tell the truth actually, a lot of the manga I write is...well..._yuri _manga." She felt incredibly embarrassed saying that in front of a "normal" person.

"Really?" Kagami was somewhat surprised by this reveal.

"Mhmm, that one I told you sold out was yuri too. Wait, hold on..." she said before crawling over to her bed and pulling a box out from underneath it.

_Okay, _she thought while rummaging through it, _Which ones have I done that are the cleanest? I don't want to freak her out with the hardcore stuff...Hurm, I don't actually have much to choose from then..._

After a minute of rooting around, she finally found something that might be acceptable, one of the volumes based on Minami and Yutaka. Those ones were probably the cleanest she'd done. For some reason she just couldn't draw her friends in more..._explicit _circumstances. Apparently there was a limit to her depravity.

"Here you go sempai," she said while handing over the doujin, "This one didn't sell out, but it did reasonably well."

Kagami took the book from Hiyori's outstretched hand, making the younger girls face light up. She held it lightly and regarded it with a wary expression. She may not have a problem with..._that_ genre_, _but it didn't mean she was a huge fan of it either.

_It is Hiyori-sans though, and she looks really happy, it'd be rude if I didn't at least give it a chance. S_he thought, flipping open the book to a random page. _I just have to be sure not to let Konata see me reading this, I'd never hear the end of it._

The twin-tailed girl took a few seconds to study the art style, "Mm, you're a really good artist Hiyori-san."

Hiyori blushed a little at her sempai's praise, smiling appreciatively.

"...these characters look a little like Yu-chan and Minami-chan."

She twitched, banging one of her knees against the underside of the table. Kagami didn't seem to dwell on the character familiarity though, and Hiyori was able to mask the pain on her face.

Kagami closed the book and turned towards her younger friend, "Do you mind if I take it home and read it? I...we'll have more time to talk if I read it later. I'll be sure to return it after I'm done." She didn't want to admit it, lest she hurt Hiyori's feelings, but she felt a little self-conscious at the thought of reading a yuri manga in front of someone.

"Nn, that's alright sempai," she said, and watched Kagami slide the book into her bag before she spoke up again. "So...you read a lot sempai?"

Kagami was glad for the change of subject as, especially since that subject was something she quite liked.

"As much as I can usually. I don't normally read much manga, mostly whatever Konata lends me, but I read a lot of light-novels. I actually have a small stack of stuff I haven't finished," she said while laughing and holding her hands about a foot apart for emphasis.

"I know what you mean, I've got stacks of manga near my pillow I still need to get through," Hiyori giggled, right along with her sempai.

"So," said Kagami, an inquisitive tone in her voice, "you read a lot too?"

"Well," said Hiyori with her forefinger and thumb under her chin as she thought, "I usually read a lot of manga for inspirational purposes, but I've been trying to read more regular books lately. What are a few of your favorites sempai...?"

The two of them continued their banter as they finished gathering up the mess, discussing their favorite books and manga, and somehow ending up, bizarrely, on the topic of food.

"...but Tsukasa told Konata to do that once and she said it got all gross and moldy the next morning and started to really stink."

"Heh, that's great material, I might just use that in one of my new manga. I hope Izumi-sempai and Tsukasa-san won't mind"

Hiyori smiled at Kagami. She had been worried about spending more time with her after what had happened to the previous day, but it was actually turning out rather well. At least she wasn't acting like a spazz anymore.

Tearing her eyes away from her sempai, she glanced outside to see the sun through the sparse clouds. It resembled a large half-lidded eye as it began to dip past the horizon, bathing everything in golden light.

"Nn...it's getting late," she mumbled absentmindedly, but loud enough for Kagami to hear.

The tsundere followed her gaze out the window and nodded slightly. "It is, the sun'll be going down soon, I should have probably left a while ago..." She suddenly felt embarrassed, worried that she was making it sound like she might be angry with Hiyori for keeping her so long.

"I-I mean...I'm not saying I'm mad or anything, I'm...actually enjoying this but..."

Hiyori couldn't help but giggle. _Izumi-sempai was right, she is cute when she's all flustered_.

"Ah, I guess it is late, I hadn't noticed how long we've been talking this whole time, let me walk you out," she said as she slowly tried to pull herself up, but toppled over once she realized that her left leg was asleep. She sat back down and gritted her teeth against the sudden wave of prickling pain she felt all through her appendage.

"Are you okay?" asked Kagami as she stood herself.

"Ah, I'm fine, my leg is just asleep, it's doing that whole pins&needles thing," Hiyori said as she mouthed silents ow's and tried to rub the discomfort out.

Kagami felt a little awkward just standing there. She vaguely considered offering to help Hiyori massage her leg, but realized that it would probably seem like a strange gesture, especially for two people just becoming friends. Instead she sat down next to her kohai and made small talk while waiting for her to regain blood flow. She'd probably find it weird and unpleasant anyway.

"That happens to Tsukasa all the time, she always falls asleep at her desk or at the table when she tries to do homework and I have to help her massage her legs..."

After a few minutes, Hiyori finally regained the feeling of something other than stinging pain in her left leg, and the two of them walked to the front door, a gust of cool dusk air brushing their faces as the door opened and Kagami stepped out.

They stood facing one another in awkward silence for a few moments, before Hiyori finally spoke up.

"Well...it, it was really...nice seeing you today..." She finished rather lamely, not really sure what to say. Thankfully, Kagami made things easier for her.

"I agree," she said with a bright smile, "we should try hanging out sometime or something, when you're not so sick. I'll probably see you at the school too, so don't forget to say hi. See you tomorrow."

Hiyori could only nod and wave goodbye as Kagami turned and walked out to the sidewalk, the sun barely peeking over the horizon and suffusing her in amber light.

* * *

Hiyori walked to her room in a daze, silently closing the door behind her before walking over and flopping face down onto her bed, glasses going askew. She lay there for a bit, contemplating the days bizarre events.

_Today was...interesting. Not exactly bad, though, I did get to spend some time alone with sempai, and I even got to open up to her a little more. That was nice. _She thought with a smile and rolled onto her back. _I was feeling terrible earlier, but now I'm feeling pretty okay, is this...the healing power of love?_

She couldn't help but lapse into a giggle-fit while slipping her glasses off and placing them on the nightstand.

_Oh, that was funny. I really have to remember that real life doesn't work like it does in anime, which is probably a good thing if you got right down to it._

A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over her however, her arms and legs feeling like something akin to lead weights, making her groan in discomfort.

_Seems like my love could stand to be a little stronger,_ she thought morosely as she she crawled into a better position on her bed, grunting in exertion before laying her head against the pillow. She didn't even bother with the covers, too tired to move her heavy limbs any more than she had to.

_Izumi-sempai was acting strange though, and what was with her telling me that...have I heard it somewhere before...? Ah, I don't remember, hmm...Sigh, whatever, I'm too tired to think about it now._

She mewled, stretched slightly, and snuggled into her pillow before having one last thought.

_Kagami-sama...I hope you like the manga._

And then she dreamed.

* * *

**_End-notes:_** Funny thing, this was originally the end of the last chapter and much, much shorter, but then I sliced it off and added a ton more dialogue and scene breaks. Now it's even longer than the chapter it was originally intended to be in. Crazy how that works out.

Fun fact, this one turned out to be kind of a test to see if I could handle drawn out character interaction in a single setting, and to see if I could keep momentum with the different character personalities. Hopefully I managed. Kagami and Konata are still giving me a little trouble (Konata more so), but less than they were before.

And yes, this chapter doesn't really go anywhere (literally, it's all one setting), but the next installment should contain much more romantic fluff and plot development, so bear with me, were going to start getting into the good stuff.

So anyway, I really hope you people out there are enjoying this, and I hope you have the time to review and tell me how you feel it's going so far. It's always appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mad Pierrot Le Fou


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